London Herne Hill Restaurant Guide

Opened in February 2020, a plant-based café with cute outside terrace in Herne Hill from brothers Oliver and Luca, who used to run the Bean & Bowl stall in Herne Hill Market. During the day, there’s a menu of brunch plates and plant-based burgers – by night, pasta and one or two more substantial dishes complete the offering. “We actually didn’t realise it was a vegan restaurant until we sat down but all our food was so delicious we’ll definitely be back!”

This “relaxed” chippy in a “lovely location by Brockwell Park” provides a “great range of fish and a variety of ways to cook it” – fried, grilled or steamed with various garnishes. Harry Niazi has run it for 35 years, garnering a strong reputation in Herne Hill and beyond.

This “lovely local pizza restaurant” beside Brockwell Park (with branches in Brixton, Crystal Palace and Dulwich) “has an authentic, down-to-earth vibe” and specialises in pizzas with “good chewy crusts and plenty of punchy flavour”.

“The menu hugely understates the deliciousness that will soon follow” and “service is lovely and easygoing”, say southeast London fans of their “dream neighbourhood restaurant”, opposite Herne Hill station, which they acclaim for “very good”, if rather understated, “modern European, primarily Italian food”. The interior is the weakest link – it’s an “oddly shaped space” and “lacks character” – meaning that for some fans it’s “not quite as much fun as it could be”.

This “highly recommended” South London operation gives an original twist to “sourdough wood-fired pizzas”, served with craft beer and “excellent gelato and desserts”. With branches in Crystal Palace, Nunhead, West Norwood and Elephant & Castle, they have also taken over the Art Deco café at Brockwell Park Lido, where “cheap and cheerful cocktails and pizza on the waterside make you feel you’re on holiday”. Top Tip: “their courgette chimichurri pizza with added goat’s cheese is highly addictive”.

With their very “pretty interiors” and “great brunch” – this “reliable chain” of “cheerful” all-day hang-outs has emerged completely undaunted from the pandemic, expanding beyond its south west London heartlands as far as Islington, Marlow and St Albans. With new openings scheduled for late 2021 in Dulwich and Richmond, the roll-out shows no sign of slowing down. They’re very “dog friendly” too.